The invention relates to a subcaliber projectile with a penetrator and a propelling cage or sabot surrounding a portion of the penetrator, and wherein the base region of a cap, that is tapered toward the penetrator point, is arranged on a front end of the propelling cage.
Such projectiles are used, in particular, for firing from automatic weapons, wherein the cap arranged on the front of the propelling cage, which cap is also referred to as a feeding cap, is designed to facilitate the automatic feeding of the respective cartridge into the cartridge chamber of the weapon as well as to protect the point of the penetrator. Providing the cap with groove-shaped, predetermined break locations that extend in the longitudinal direction of the projectile causes a defined cracking open of the feeding cap, in particular with spin-stabilized projectiles, so that the corresponding segments of the feeding cap fly off to the side as soon as the projectile has left the gun tube.
It is furthermore known to provide slots in the point region of the cap, so that the dynamic pressure forming in the weapon gun tube in front of the projectile as a result of the high projectile velocity can also act upon the inside surface of the cap. On leaving the gun tube, the pressure existing on the cap outside can drop rapidly to atmospheric pressure. The pressure on the inside of the cap does not drop as rapidly owing to the comparably small exit cross section and thus acts from the inside upon the cap segments, which are pushed away toward the outside.
In practical operations it has turned out to be a problem that feeding caps, which meet the requirement of a quick and uniform separation when the projectile leaves the muzzle of the gun tube, also disintegrate relatively easily during the feeding operation into the weapon chamber. This can cause considerable malfunctions in the weapon, for which the repair is very time-consuming. On the other hand, the problem with projectiles having caps with a high stability in the region of the predetermined break locations is that the cap separates only slowly and with little relative uniformity after leaving the gun tube, which frequently causes poor hit results.
The object of the present invention is to provide a spin- or fin-stabilized projectile of the above-mentioned type, which, on the one hand, ensures a good and secure feeding during the firing with automatic weapons, and, on the other hand, also has a good hit capability.